Effects of training in procedural justice on perceptions of disciplinary fairness by unionized employees and disciplinary subject matter experts

A training program, based on procedural justice theory was developed for teaching supervisors to take effective disciplinary action with employees. Canadian supervisors of unionized employees were randomly assigned to the training (n = 35) or the control group (n = 36). Analyses of variance revealed that both supervisory self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were significantly higher in the training than in the control conditions. Following simulated role-play exercises derived from organizational incidents, both unionized employees and disciplinary subject matter experts (managers, union officials, and attorneys) rated the trained supervisors higher on disciplinary fairness behavior than the supervisors in the control group. Self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between training and perceptions of disciplinary fairness.